End-to-End Order Management Key for Mobile Operator Profitability, Heavy Reading Finds

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile operators today are under constant pressure to improve customer service levels and lower order processing costs and cycle times. To address these needs and remain competitive in the complex mobile marketplace, mobile operators must invest in streamlined, end-to-end order management (OM) systems that can manage all aspects of the order-to-cash cycle, according to a major new report from Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com), the research division of Light Reading (www.lightreading.com).

End-to-End Order Management: The Mobile Operator Opportunity explores the critical role of OM solutions in the mobile industry. The report explains in depth how business process management (BPM)-based, custom-built OM solutions cannot meet the changing needs of mobile operators and examines the views of operators regarding their existing OM solutions and their wish-lists for future solutions. It also explores how the business-to-business (B2B) and supply-chain strategies of mobile operators can be streamlined with end-to-end OM solutions and demonstrates how end-to-end OM will enable mobile operators to transition from today's bundled services to more personalized services.

The report also profiles 13 key vendors of OM solutions for the mobile industry, and analyzes their products and strategies. For a full list of the vendors profiled in this report, please see: http://img.lightreading.com/heavyreading/pdf/hr20110411_companies.pdf.

"The role of the order management system is to act as the orchestrator and control point in an operator's back- and front-office systems, enabling the myriad components in the service value chain to work in unison," says Ari Banerjee, Senior Analyst of Heavy Reading and author of the report. "End-to-end OM systems – which touch all aspects of a service provider's operation, from order generation to order capture and fulfillment across different channels and customer touch points – will play a pivotal role in enabling service providers to transition from the bundled services era to an era of more personalized services."

Service provider profitability depends on an efficient OM solution that automates redundant processes, increases operational efficiency and maximizes revenue potential, Banerjee explains. "Efficient, end-to-end OM solutions help manage the customer ordering experience, so that customers can order new and upgraded services when, where and how they want them. OM solutions also help automate order handling, reducing errors and time to order; and boost carrier profitability by automating redundant processes and increasing operational efficiency."

Key findings of End-to-End Order Management: The Mobile Operator Opportunity include the following:

Mobile operators have identified OM as a key area of investment over the next two to four years. Customer centricity is directly related to process efficiencies and, in that context, OM will play a pivotal role. Time to market and innovative offers will be crucial components of a mobile operator's competitive strategy, in which robust OM platforms will play a pivotal role.

There will be significant spending in the OM space over the next few years. Our research shows that the majority of this growth is happening, and will continue to happen, in the mobile sector. Overall CAGR for the total OM market is 7.6 percent from 2009 to 2013, whereas CAGR for OM in the mobile sector is 21.5 percent over that same period.

OM vendors should provide a TCO/ROI model that quantifies the benefits of their solution to service providers. In this economy, software investment decisions will increasingly be based on a diligent cost/benefit analysis, and these total cost of ownership (TCO)/return on investment (ROI) models will help influence service provider decision-making.

Custom-built OM solutions built on BPM technologies fail to deliver the scalability and flexibility benefits mobile operators expect. In most instances, mature mobile operators are either replacing their older, custom-built OM solutions or evaluating ways to migrate from their legacy OM solutions.

End-to-End Order Management: The Mobile Operator Opportunity costs $3,995 and is published in PDF format. The price includes an enterprise license covering all of the employees at the purchaser's company.

For more information, or to request a free executive summary, contact:

Dave Williams
Sales Director, Heavy Reading
858-485-8870
[email protected]

Press/analyst contact:

Jennifer Baker
Marketing Director, Light Reading Communications Network
617-871-1910
[email protected]

About Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com)

Heavy Reading is an independent market research organization offering quantitative analysis of telecom technology to carriers, service providers, and vendors. Our remit is to provide the comprehensive competitive analysis needed today for the deployment of profitable networks based on next-generation hardware and software. This information is compiled via exhaustive surveys of both vendors' products and service-provider decision makers.

About Light Reading Communications Network (www.lightreading.com)

Founded in 2000, the Light Reading Communications Network is the world's leading research-led integrated media company serving the global communications market. Lightreading.com is the ultimate source for technological and financial analysis of the communications industry, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. Light Reading's research arms, Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research, provide the most comprehensive communications research, market data, and technology analysis in close to 100 markets around the world. Light Reading produces nearly 20 targeted communications events including TelcoTV, and TelcoTV Asia, Ethernet Expo New York and Ethernet Europe, and The Tower Summit @ CTIA, as well as focused one-day events tailored for cable, mobile, and wireline executives in the US, Europe, India, and China. Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005 and operates as a unit of TechWeb.

SOURCE Heavy Reading